Stratification has its benefits. If, in theory, the approach of a new rank is a matter of leaving the old rank because of proven success, then it does make some sense, I believe, to compare one’s performance against the peers.

Assuming this principle, then it seems to make some sense to have, for instance, strata governed by ACBL rank. Silver LM’s compete against Silver LM’s, Gold LM’s against Gold LM’s, etc. If you repeatedly win against your peer grooup, or win enough, then you enter the next level.

One major problem with this is that SLM’s don’t play exclusively with SLM’s, and GLM’s don’t play exclusively with GLM’s, which kind of messes with the theory.

All that said, I have never really understood why people really care. But, if awards of masterpoints are given according to the tastes of those who care about masterpoints, then my indifference is immaterial.

The winning of masterpoints revs the motor. Reaching new levels swells the ego. Competing against one’s equals challenges one’s resolve. Nothing from above proves that one has gotten better. However, there is absolutely no doubt that everything from above is part of a successful business venture. As Tiger must have often said, “Lay back and enjoy it!” As Shakespeare definitely has said, “Signifying nothing”, but as many have suggested “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. There is always something to be learned. There is always some hand in which to be proud. Those last two seem to trump the leadoff three. Whatever the real reason, most of us love to play the game. Do we really need another excuse?

If anything gets my gander up then its this nonsense of stratification by some ludicrous system of points awarded for turning up to play. Here in the UK we get greenies for instance by winning any match in a teams tournament, so if two teams meet at the bottom, the triumphant one earns a quarter greeny. And that can happen each if the other team don’t turn up !! A 100 congresses later, this team of numpties will have gained the 25 green points needed to declare themselves regional masters. It is a joke…..but hey the EBU get loads of dosh out of this……with people handing tens of thousands of £ to move up the umpteen stratas to the top. One day someone will dream up an infinitely better system where numpty players retain forever their numpty status, and only the best make it to the top. The rest of us just belong to that super huge middle stratum of inbetweenies.

If anything gets my gander up then its this nonsense of stratification by some ludicrous system of points awarded for turning up to play. Here in the UK we get greenies for instance by winning any match in a teams tournament, so if two teams meet at the bottom, the triumphant one earns a quarter greeny. And that can happen even if the other team don’t turn up !! A 100 congresses later, this team of numpties will have gained the 25 green points needed to declare themselves regional masters. It is a joke…..but hey the EBU get loads of dosh out of this……with people handing tens of thousands of £ to move up the umpteen stratas to the top. One day someone will dream up an infinitely better system where numpty players retain forever their numpty status, and only the best make it to the top. The rest of us just belong to that super huge middle stratum of inbetweenies.

The A/X games the way they currently are are quite popular, I think. It keeps the weak and intermediate players from having to play against the experts and allows the experts to play a pair game that has a solid field. By and large, the people in the 2000 to 5000 MP range, welcome the opportunity to play pros, especially if they can still win within their peers. Besides, many tournament would struggle to have enough players in an open game when there’s a separate under 5000 game. The whole goal of stratification is to get everyone in a game that they have greater than a .001% chance of winning. Like ken, I personally don’t care about masterpoints so maybe my opinion shouldn’t matter much, but I do think stratification and flighting of events may be getting a bit overdone.